


The Lovers That Held The World

by Rikkitikitavi



Category: riptide (book)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, look out guys here comes some sappy shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 00:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11219859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikkitikitavi/pseuds/Rikkitikitavi
Summary: Thomas was charged with babysitting the girls that night while everyone was at the party. They asked for the Atlas Lovers story to be told. It was one that Thomas was not familiar with, though he was familiar with the characters.





	The Lovers That Held The World

**Author's Note:**

> man i thought of this after i woke up in the middle of the night its real Gay

"Okay, bed time kiddos." Thomas said, scooping up a reluctant Piper from her drawing. "You can finish it tomorrow." There was a party tonight. There was always a party with Cecelia. This time though, Nick had to come along. Thomas always forgot he was a business man too and not just a father. Nick had approached him in full suit, asking him if he could take care of the girls seeing as he wasn't going to the party anyways. There was something almost unsettling seeing Nick in a clean, crisp suit rather than his stained tshirts and ripped jeans. Thomas had agreed without realising, still near hypnotised by not only Nick's change of clothes, but behaviour. Not that he minded really, he loved spending time with the girls. He'd just never been in Nick's apartment without any other adults there too. It felt odd.

 

Kasi tugged on his shirt to get his attention, signing, _'Can I pick the story?'_ Thomas nodded and she ran ahead to the room at the end of the hall. Depending on what you wanted, it was either Elle's library, or a makeshift medical bay. Kasi slipped into Elle's library while Thomas took Piper into their room.

 

"No fair, she always gets to pick the story!" Piper whined as Thomas put her down in her bed.

 

"Well that's something you need to take up with your mom and dad." He booped her nose before heading over to grab her pajamas. They had picked what they wanted to wear before Nick and the others had left. Piper had a Thomas the Tank Engine onesie and Kasi chose her dad's black bathrobe. Thomas asked if she needed help and she adamantly shook her head. He shrugged and turned away as Kasi came in. She held the book she'd found up to him.

 

"The Atlas Lovers?" That was something he'd never heard of before. It was from an alien world perhaps? He looked at the author. Elle Da? He didn't know she wrote chidlrens books. He didn't know she wrote at all. The cover is what made him realise it wasn't just a childrens book. There was a lavish city on the top part of the cover, filled with lights and colour. Below there were two people holding it up; one small, with wild red hair and an even wilder grin, the other tall and thin, shorter white hair going just past his shoulders, he had a grin also. This wasn't just some story, was it?

 

"Oh I love that one!" Piper grinned, jumping on Thomases back to look at the cover.

 

"Yeah?" Thomas glanced at her before looking at the cover. Did Elle have more books like this, he wondered. "Kasi-" He was about to tell her to put her pajamas on, but when he looked up she was already in her pajamas and in bed, waiting. "Ah."

 

He pulled Piper off his shoulder and tucked her into bed as well. Piper turned on her nightlight, a dim lamp covered in stars, as Thomas turned off the light. "Ready?" He asked, sitting on the floor between their beds. The two nodded and he opened the book.

 

"Once upon a time there was a city, an ancient powerful city. It laid teetering on the edge of a cliff above the ocean. They were peaceful, for the most part. They had their quarrels and problems, like most cities do..." Thomas paused as he glanced over the next few pages. They were all crossed out and edited explanations of the cities economical structure. Thomas could help laugh when he saw the note 'ma'am this is a childrens book, please' at the end of it all. "Visitors came though, as visitors always do... Though these two were different, otherworldly and intimidatingly gorgeous." Thomas scoffed, they got that right. "The smaller of the two was a girl, with dark skin and dark brown eyes. Wild bright red hair fell around her, barely wisping against the floor. Freckles dotted her skin like stars in the sky, and her smile shone bright and big as the sun. She seemed to glide where she went, flying to impossible heights. The other was dimmer, yet shone still. His pale hair and pale eyes piercing the very souls of those who dared look at him. His hair was calmer, kept under a simple hat. He was much taller than his friend, much more subdued as well."

 

"Nothing changed when the visitors came, except the heart of the empress. She had ruled alone for a long time, had been in mourning of her long dead spouse for years and refused to wed again. That didn't stop suitors from across the realm to try though. When the two visitors came they swept the empress off her feet. They got her smiling again in ways no one else ever could. It made the suitors angry. They told her they couldn't trust the visitors, that they came from nowhere and nothing. She ignored them still, and spent more and more time with the visitors. They all banded up and said she and the visitors would rue their mistake. They weren't taken seriously..." Shit.

 

"Years later and the visitors had not aged, but the empress did. She needed a cane now. They still called her beautiful and she still looked at them like the day she first met them. One day her and the man were taking a walk on the beach, below the city. The girl was watching the castle. There had been some threats on the city, they wanted to keep watch. The biggest threaten hadn't come to the castle though, it was on the edge of the city. It was below the city. The suitors had used all their resources to create explosives to take the entire city down. Nick had seen it too late. He told the empress to warn the girl before climbing the cliff face to try get rid of the explosives. He didn't get there in time, the city exploded above him. He held it up, refusing to let it crumble down. Refusing to let all those people go. Strength wasn't his strong suite though, his knees buckled and his arms wavered. The entire city rested on his back, teetering and buckling." _Shit._

 

"There was a moment where he thought he was done for. That the town was done for. The empress had evacuated most of the city, and they stood at the beach watching him. That was all they could do, was watch him. The empress insisted he could let go, that all the people were safe. He wouldn't let them be homeless though. He refused. He said he would be there until his dying breath. Someone else said it wasn't necessary; the girl. Much of the weight was lifted off his shoulders, and she stood beside him on the cliff, grinning. He smiled back at her. They would do this, together. With the weight lifted together it was easy; though admittedly she took on most of the weight. The city was stable, and the people flooded back in. They started building around the visitors. Beams to make the city safer, rebuilding what was gone; bigger and sturdier. The visitors never stopped looking into each others eyes, never stopped smiling. Once the city was safe and secure, they let go. They collapsed into each other with sighs of relief. There was a moment of silence before they stood. The man picked her up, swinging her around and laughing. They both laughed... Then... They slowly disappeared. No one knows where they went, but the empress wasn't sad to see them go as she had been with her spouse. She erected statues of them there where they stood. They would forever be a reminder of how they saved the city, how they captured the empresses heart, and how devoted they were to the city and to each other."

 

"Woah, did-" Thomas looked up to ask the girls if that really happened, but they were both long asleep. He stood quietly and left, closing the door behind him.


End file.
